Six New Notre-Dame Windows and a €1 Million Renaissance Door Prize

By Marcus Bennett

Six new stained-glass windows by Claire Tabouret stand behind red curtains inside Notre-Dame de Paris, awaiting a December 7 unveiling. Le Figaro reports the installation has proceeded quietly, with the French artist’s glass covered until the public presentation.

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What do Tabouret’s windows show?

The project has the backing of French President Emmanuel Macron. ARTnews reports it has overcome one legal challenge while another remains unresolved. The six windows render the story of the Pentecost in figurative, color-rich scenes and line the cathedral’s southern aisle. The Simon-Marq workshop in Reims made the glass. For now, red curtains conceal the result.

Heritage groups oppose the commission because it requires removing 19th-century windows designed by Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc. He intended them as part of a cohesive homage to Gothic architecture. His opponents treat that removal as damage to a coherent interior rather than the loss of one window.

The installation has moved ahead regardless. December 7 will reveal a contemporary cycle set beside surviving historic glass, with the political backing of the French president and a second legal challenge still pending.

What does Canada’s budget change for artists?

Canada’s proposed federal budget would exempt artists from paying tax on C$45,000 ($38,000) of their earnings, The Art Newspaper reports. The measure arrives while Canadian artists continue to grapple with US tariffs.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney wrote in a November 5 social media post: “In Budget 2026, we’re backing the Canadian artists who tell our stories,” and “That means if you’re a Canadian artist, you won’t pay tax on up to C$45,000 of income derived from your creative work,” he added.

The same budget commits C$783.1 million ($554 million) over five years to the National Arts Centre, Library and Archives Canada, the National Battlefields Commission and national museums. It also allocates:

• C$46.3 million ($32.8 million) in subsidies over five years for free entry to national museums for visitors under 25, followed by C$11.5 million ($8.1 million) per year.
• C$20 million ($14.1 million) over three years for the Canada Council for the Arts.

Carfac’s Jenna Faye Powell, interim national executive director of the Canadian Artists’ Representation/Le Front des Artistes Canadiens, told The Art Newspaper: “As a sector, we still have a lot of questions, while many artists need relief now.”

For a working artist, the answer is specific: up to C$45,000 of creative income would go untaxed under the proposal. The museum subsidies and institutional grants stretch over three and five years, so the immediate gain is the tax threshold.

What enters the market and the museum?

Christie’s New York will offer the 4 a.m., August 28, 1963 handwritten final draft of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech on January 22, 2027, ArtDependence reports. The sale will benefit charity.

In Denmark, Olafur Eliasson has partnered with ARoS Aarhus Art Museum on a publicly accessible study space and library holding research materials about his practice. Ocula reports it will open alongside a major solo exhibition devoted to Eliasson, along with newly installed artwork.

In Nuremberg, a contemporary arts association has appealed to the Nuremberg City Council in an open letter over the possible closure of the 1967-founded Kunsthalle Nürnberg. Monopol Magazine reports the warning comes amid a strained public budget.

Ryan Gander offers a harsher verdict on the YBA than on his own brushes. The Guardian quotes him describing its art as “egocentric, attention-seeking, shallow kind of art,” and the act of drawing and painting as “futile and dumb,” even as his latest show, “Maybe: Ryan Gander,” at Towner gallery in Eastbourne includes several of his own new paintings.

Who owns the Renaissance doorway in Úbeda?

A decade ago, Juan Francisco León Catena found a Renaissance doorway behind the walls of his property in Úbeda, southern Spain, while renovating it. El País reports he will receive a €1 million ($1.12 million) prize. The 15th-century portal came from a former hospital church designed by the Spanish Renaissance architect Andrés de Vandelvira.

Experts found the portal in excellent condition and deemed it of “great aesthetic value” and a unique Renaissance artwork. The Andalusian Regional Government initially refused to pay. The case reached the High Court of Justice of Andalusia, which rejected the government’s arguments.

León Catena now talks with the city of Úbeda about promoting the heritage site. City-owned buildings around it also house the relic, and they need restoration and risk collapse.

The prize, granted under the Spanish Historical Heritage Law for chance, significant artistic finds, settles the payment dispute. It does not settle the site’s future: the portal’s public presentation now rests with talks between León Catena and the city, and the surrounding buildings still need rescue.